Trump’s steep tariffs on Chinese goods, which are at 145%, are creating nearly impossible conditions for the historic immigrant community that is made up mostly of about 1,000 small businesses.
About 90% of the goods sold in Chinatown are from China, and the tariffs have forced some merchants to hike their prices more than 30%, San Francisco Chinese Chamber of Commerce President Donald Luu told reporters Tuesday.
“With this economic trade war, we feel that the effect’s going to be long-lasting and it’s going to threaten the very fabric of Chinatown,” Luu, flanked by local business leaders, said during a press conference in Chinatown.
Magan Li, the owner of Lion Trading, which sells religious items, said at some point customers are going to refuse to absorb the costs and stop coming altogether.
“This is a very, very big blow to our small business,” she said. “We’re at risk of losing the traditions that the community has spent so much time protecting.”
Li said incense at her store ranges “from anywhere from five to 20 dollars.”
“So, with the current tariffs and all that that’s happening, we’re looking at like $40, $50 for just a single bundle of incense,” she added.
San Francisco’s Chinatown, the oldest and largest of its kind in the country, has been pushed into Trump’s escalating trade war.
“I think Chinatown is at the center of why these tariffs are so harmful and how devastating they’re going to be — not to another country’s government, but to us here, in our country,” said Assemblymember Matt Haney, a Democrat who represents the area, adding that “when Chinatown is hit, all of us are hit here in this city.”
Still, some businesses are trying to hold off raising prices by stretching current inventory as far as it will go, hoping a deal is reached soon.
Nancy Yu, who owns four stores in Chinatown, including Asiastar Fantasy, told ABC7 that she just returned from a trip to China last week. Yu said uncertainty has hit her business partners.
“We had really good talks with all my suppliers and my shipper, and we all think we should hold my shipment a little bit,” Yu said, adding that the cost to ship some of her items since the start of the trade war has doubled and in some cases tripled.
San Francisco resident Alex Kolchinski told KTVU.com that he’s been “seeing numbers about consumer confidence being shaken and my consumer confidence is being shaken, because I don’t know what’s going to be happening next year.”
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“I don’t know if we’re going to be in a trade war. … It’s hard to plan ahead when you have no idea what’s coming,” he added.
Becky Mincio, another San Francisco resident, said, despite feeling financially stable, “price is a factor, so it would impact how I could shop based on the price.”
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
